Changes are afoot around South Congress Avenue, the main drag of Austin's food trailer scene. Construction is forcing several trailers to leave. One of the buzziest is Burro Cheese Kitchen, hawking "artisan grilled cheese sandwiches" from a bright yellow shipping container.

The small menu lets diners design their own lunch from a wide variety of artisan cheeses, breads baked fresh at Easy Tiger, and custom blended sauces like chocolate syrup, dulce de leche, and almond pesto aioli. In the end, I left it up to the professionals and selected one of their six menu options. The Waylon & Willie($9.00) promised two cheeses, caramelized onions, and a spicy maple bacon sauce that made me a little nervous.

The sandwich arrived hot off the grill, wrapped in white paper with a donkey stamped on the seal. The thickly sliced beer bread had perfect grill marks, and the hearty slices were crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. The filling of cheddar and Gruyère from Veldhuizen Cheese, caramelized onions, and crunchy peperoncinis was a bit sparse. The sauce, which I had feared would be slightly sickening, was served in the sandwich. To my surprise, it wasn't sweet at all—along with a few spicy pepperocinis, it actually added a much needed note of intrigue to this otherwise slightly boring sandwich.

I've heard some grumblings about the price of these grilled cheeses, which go from $7.50 to $11. Yes, that might seem a bit steep for a sandwich served out of a shipping container, but the Waylon & Willie was so large that I saved half for later. The sandwiches are made with exquisite bread and upscale cheeses—many of them hailing from right here in Texas.

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Meredith Bethune is a food and travel writer who recently moved to Washington, DC from Austin. She has had lots of odd jobs along the way like cheesemonger, farmers’ market coordinator, and youth gardening instructor. As a writer, her work has appeared in Travel + Leisure, New York Magazine, Bon Appetit, BUST, The Local Palate, Gastronomica, Modern Farmer, and numerous Austin publications.

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